𝗖𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗢𝗨𝗦, thomas (tmr)

Chapter Thirty Five

In the Glade, silence was a hard thing to come by. But in the Scorch, it was constant.

Especially now that Winston was gone, the mood had dropped to such a low point that even a single word could tip someone over the edge. No one dared to disrupt the tension surrounding them by breaking the silence, and so they continued to travel quietly.

Clara could feel her throat growing dry, almost burning as much as her drying tears were stinging her face. She reached around to grab her water bottle, shaking it to find that it was, in fact, empty. As they walked, Newt bumped his shoulder with hers, offering up his bottle.

"No, Newt, I couldn't take-"

Her voice came out in a croak, hoarse from staying silent for so long. The sudden noise caused everyone to glance quickly towards her, surprised someone had spoken after so long.

"-You need it more than me." He cut in.

Clara knew then what he was about to mention, and couldn't help but let her eyes dance away to where Thomas was walking alone, ahead of the group. He had been troubled ever since arriving in the Scorch, and he still didn't know what happened to her.

"It might help to stop you collapsing again."

As Clara took the bottle gratefully from Newt, Thomas whirled around just as she expected. He scanned the girl's face as she sipped from the bottle, his eyes wide with panic and his skin pale in sudden concern.

"You collapsed?"

Clara couldn't help but fix the boy with an empty smile. She knew that the boy's distraction - especially with Teresa - had been bothering her, but she didn't realise just how much it had until then.

Everyone else had stopped walking too, only increasing the girl's frustration with Thomas due to the fact they had an audience. And Clara wasn't sure if she could remain calm for much longer.

"Yeah Thomas, I collapsed." She told him, almost melting at the way his face dropped. Almost. "I've been trying to talk to you since it happened."

Thomas' look of guilt could've been seen from a mile away. He shifted on the spot, taking a step closer to try and talk to her in a low voice.

"Listen, we can talk now-"

Clara stepped away, cutting the boy off from speaking. His face briefly flashed with embarrassment and pain, but he hid it well, watching the girl carefully as she prevented herself from snapping at him.

"There's nothing we need to talk about."

That's a lie.

Clara was stubborn, and despite the fact she wanted to tell Thomas about the visions she had - just like he told her back in the Glade - she was stubborn in her decision to instead ignore him. Turning back to the others with pink cheeks, she shook a wisp of hair from obscuring her vision and flashed them all the same empty smile.

"We should get going. Try to get further before we settle down for the night."

She started off, closely followed by Newt who was watching Thomas with a look of disapproval. The rest of the group started into action again, with Newt's other half wandering alongside Thomas to try and figure out his feelings on the whole thing.

Newt and Minho were practically telepathic, they were so much on the same page. One look between them said that they'd follow both of the bickering couple to try and get as much information as possible. They were sneaky in this plan.

Well they thought they were. Thomas may have been completely oblivious to their plan, but Clara wasn't blind. She saw the knowing look the two boys shared before trailing after her and Thomas, already attempting conversation.